As far as trademark sayings go, few if any are more identifiable than the exclamation Vic Rauter puts at the end of a TSN curling telecast.

When you hear the words “make the final …” you know they’re coming from an icon in the roaring game, who also happens to be a true gentleman.

Now, only part of the reason I’m am saying the latter is because when I bumped into Rauter between draws at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday and told him the first (and I think last) time we met was while we were both working a Toronto Maple Leafs Intercounty baseball game more than 30 years ago, he at least pretended to remember.

You look the same now as you did then, I told him.

“Your eyes have stopped working,” he said.

Nonetheless, my brain is as sharp as ever, which is why I knew to talk to Rauter — who after more than three decades of curling calling has to be as much of an authority on the sport as you will find — when I wanted an idea of what to expect from the 2017 Roar of the Rings.

So Vic, what do you think of the field?

“It’s very strong,” he said. “There’s nothing like it.”

And the event?

“Olympics has changed the face of the game,” Rauter said. “You still hear a player say they still appreciate a Canadian championship, they still appreciate a Scotties, and a worlds, but now they want the Olympics. And that really has changed the game.”

How so, exactly?

“It’s changed the structure of the teams,” he said. “It’s more business minded now. You see a Rachel Homan, when she loses a player now … ‘who are we going to get?’ so they go and recruit Joanne Courtney.

“(John) Morris needs a second, and he goes out and gets an all-star second from Adam Casey’s team last year in Saskatchewan. The teams now are purpose built to do this four-year cycle. I said today on air, the days are gone when you’d have the (Ernie) Richardson family .. sorry, they would blow that team up and they might take two of them, and you go and recruit two more, because it’s business now. For the top teams. It’s amateur business. It really is. It’s changed.”

And not for the better?

“I wouldn’t say that. I think what’s happened is teams are being left behind. You can not be half-assed about it, if I can express it that way. You either have to commit to it or not. And that’s what we’re seeing on the tour. You’re seeing the same teams all the time, because they’re the ones that are most committed.

“So guys who are weekend players, they can’t get into that elite group. Well, who’s fault is that? If you want to get into it, then become elite. You’ll have to travel every week, you’ll have to bang heads with the best to become the best. It’s not unlike anything else. So some of the guys at the lower levels are complaining that they’re not getting the opportunity, but conversely, then go out and show you deserve that.”

Where is it leading?

“I think what’s going to happen is, after this event, or the Olympic event, next year you’ll see new teams all over the place,” he said. “Somebody will blow this one up … I can’t even say who … (Kevin) Koe’s team, for example, would be one where I’d think maybe they’d say ‘all right boys, (time for) family. After so much dedication, you look then to say it’s time for life.”

What do you think about them holding this event at Canadian Tire Centre?

“I’ll be quite honest with you, I would have preferred it downtown (at TD Place),” Rauter said. “We saw the (2016) Brier, and what the Brier did … that is a wonderful facility downtown, with all the restaurants and everything there. It’s so convenient.

“But (CTC) is a beautiful building. I think they may be hard-pressed to fill more than the lower bowl. That would be good. But that’s me speaking, I think it would have been better downtown. But business is business. You go where it suits the curling people, and that’s what this is.”

Never mind what’s easier for fans to get to, right?

“Those people who come out here are going to be dedicated,” Rauter said. “Now they’re going to be here for the weekend, but I’ll wait to see what happens Monday and Tuesday. It might be a little thin. But we know come the championship weekend, they should fill that lower bowl and have no problem.

“We said today, you take that lower bowl and put it in TD Place, it’s all but full. So 10,000, that’s a good crowd.”

And your predictions? What teams will fill in the blanks when you declare “make the final …”?

“I don’t know, but I can tell you this: There’s going to be teams out there that are going to lose more than they’ve ever lost before,” Rauter said. “Like Koe did four years ago when he lost his first five. Who would have thought that?

“I still think the favourites on the women’s side are the two biggies (Jennifer Jones and Homan). It will be interesting to see if Homan bounces back (from Saturday’s loss). But certainly her and Jones.

“And on the men’s side, out of a field of nine, I think you’ve got legitimately seven teams who could win. Honestly, seven of nine. That’s as good a field as you’re ever going to see.”

There you have it.

STICKS AND STONES

Performing on Saturday’s Game Day Stage was the silky smooth Jonny Vegas. I hope he is appearing nightly and yes, I will try the veal … Not only was it the best sign in the crowd, but it might have been the lone sign in the crowd: Homan Town Advantage …. Speaking of hometowns, here from North Bay are Bea Lockhart, who tried to teach me french in elementary school, and her husband Jack Lockhart, the artist of the best painting in my house. Say hi if you see them. I will … Not sure why The Patch is at Bell Sensplex when here should be so many available rooms on site at Canadian Tire Centre … Just as baffling is the fact that, when buying a beer at The Patch, you better not try and use cash. They only take cards. Given that curling generally draws an older crowd, you have to think that’s caused a few problems.

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